TERRE HAUTE, IN — Gerald Ketterman, 58, a retired postal worker and longtime member of First Baptist Church of Terre Haute, has officially entered what his family is calling “the third consecutive overtime” of his nightly prayers for world peace, a spiritual marathon that began in early 2023 and shows no signs of concluding.

Ketterman, who initially committed to praying for peace “until things settle down a bit,” has now logged 1,100 consecutive nights of intercession. His prayer journal, which started as a pocket-sized Moleskine, has expanded into a four-inch three-ring binder with continent-coded dividers and a laminated index.

“I keep thinking I’m almost done,” Ketterman told reporters from his recliner, which has developed a permanent indentation on the left side where he kneels. “Then I check the news and add another section.”

“He prays in his sleep now. Last Tuesday he rolled over at 2 a.m. and muttered something about the South China Sea.”

His wife, Linda, 56, confirmed that Ketterman’s nightly sessions now average forty-five minutes, up from an initial twelve. She added that their small group has organized a “prayer relay” system so that someone from the church is interceding for global stability at all hours, a rotation Linda manages via a shared Google Calendar titled “Operation Perpetual Shalom.”

Pastor David Ingram praised Ketterman’s persistence, calling it “the most committed thing anyone at this church has done since Barb Kessler organized the 1997 chili cook-off.”

At press time, Ketterman had added a new tab to his binder labeled “Miscellaneous Escalations” and was seen highlighting a CNN article with a yellow marker.